Cherry Blossom Report: Nagoya

Scott's Japan Travel Journalby Scott, staff writer of japan-guide.com

This journal is a log of my travels within Japan. Here you'll find my personal opinions on the places I've been and the things I've seen. Also expect to see the occasional review and editorial. Thanks for reading.

The cherry trees are now at full bloom across a good part of the country (minus the northern Hokkaido and Tohoku regions), with most areas reaching their peak in the last few days. Unfortunately, today brought gloomy weather and persistent light rain to a lot of Japan, which may not be good news for the cherry blossoms in the cities that reached full bloom early in the week. Nagoya was in this situation, as the trees here opened five days earlier than normal and reached full bloom on Monday. At this point the petals around Nagoya are starting to lose their hold on the branches and the rain could seriously affect the trees around the city.

Tsuruma ParkApril 3, 2015 - petals starting to fall

My first stop today was to Tsuruma Park, a large city park just next to Tsurumai subway station. The park has around 1200 cherry trees and plenty of places for cherry blossom viewing parties (hanami), which makes it one, if not the most popular, of Nagoya's cherry blossom spots. And as expected, the park was already filling up as revelers prepared for Friday evening hanami parties. The wet weather didn't even seem to have an effect, and the park was full of people out enjoying themselves completely undaunted by the rain.

The cherry blossoms were also relatively unphased by the rain, which never really progressed beyond a drizzle while I was exploring the park. The petals are starting to fall from the trees, but the rain didn't seem to be influencing them much if at all. It is supposed to rain harder this evening though, which could have a stronger effect on the blossoms. Otherwise, the trees will still probably stay nice through the weekend.

The trees around Tsuruma Park will still at their peak today

Most blossoms are holding on

People were already preparing for evening flower viewing parties

Lots of people were out enjoying themselves despite the rain

Yamazakigawa RiversideApril 3, 2015 - petals starting to fall

The Yamazakigawa Riverside around Mizuho Undojo Higashi Subway Station is one of Japan's 100 best cherry blossom spots and another of Nagoya's best cherry blossom spots. The area features hundreds of cherries lining nearly a kilometer of the riverbank, and has plenty of nice spots to picnic under the trees. Like Tsuruma Park, the cherry blossoms around the river were at the tail end of the peak and petals were starting to fall from many of the trees. The flowers would come off the branches pretty easily, so hopefully the rain this evening won't be too strong. Even so, the park will probably be worth a visit at least through the weekend.

Along the Yamazakigawa Riverside (the darker pink blossoms are later blooming Yaebeni Shidare Zakura)

The petals were starting to fall especially if strongly disturbed

Hundreds of trees line the riverbank

This sweet potato vendor was probably profiting from the cold, wet weather

Nagoya CastleApril 3, 2015 - petals starting to fall

My final stop today was to Nagoya Castle and Meijo Koen park next door. There are tons of trees around the castle grounds and park: lining the pathways, overhanging the moats and creating tunnels along the stone walls, all of which were in a similar state to the last few spots I visited today. Petals were starting to fall, but were still strong enough that the light rain didn't seem to be knocking them down. Overall, the park and castle were the most impressive of today's visits and hopefully it will stay that way for a few more days.

Cherry blossom below the castle keep

A closeup of the blossoms

Cherry trees along the castle moats

Cherry blossoms around Meijo Koen

Parts of Nagoya Castle has been undergoing extensive renovations since 2009 and progressively more and more sections of the restored buildings will open up to the public. Currently visitors can enter about a third of the reconstructed palace and observe the ongoing works from a special observation walkway built over the construction project. The observation area is open on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays from 9:00 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 16:00 and is free to enter (with paid admission to the castle grounds).